


Give Me Hope

by eerian_sadow



Series: Chocobo Races 2013-14 [1]
Category: Final Fantasy X
Genre: Gen, Reminiscing, auron and yuna have a relationship that's too complicated for a tag, chocobo races, chocobo races 2013
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-08
Updated: 2013-11-08
Packaged: 2017-12-31 20:33:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1036078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eerian_sadow/pseuds/eerian_sadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the early dawn, Yuna seeks out Auron's companionship and comfort.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Give Me Hope

**Author's Note:**

  * For [corollary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/corollary/gifts).



> written for the 2013 round of chocobo races at ff_exchange.
> 
> prompt: found [here at the unfilled prompt database](http://ffex.org/unfilled_prompts/prompts.php?ao3_name=corollary) and reads thus: Yuna/Auron. "Tell me about my father."

He is performing his morning kata when she comes to him, in the earliest hours of the dawn when the light has barely peeked over the horizon. She kneels down to watch him, as she did when she was little, and does not say anything to interrupt him.

She knows that his morning rituals are as important as her own, and her father’s before she was old enough to have morning rituals, and that he will address her when he is finished.

“Lady Yuna,” He says finally, once he has moved through his final form. “What can I do for you?”

“You don’t have to call me lady,” she chides gently. “I think we have known each other too long for that.”

“Yes, we have.” He smiles, that soft, real smile that had been reserved for a spirited little girl with mismatched eyes. “It’s early, Yuna. You should still be sleeping.”

“I woke when you left. I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately.” She glances down at the ground, as if her admission is shameful. 

“Your father had trouble sleeping during our journey as well.” Auron sits down on the ground next to her. “It was so bad that we gave him the second watch, so that Jecht and I could get a real night’s sleep since Braska was up already.”

“Really?” The young Summoner looks up at him as if he had given her one of the secrets of the universe. “Was he afraid, do you think?”

“Often, but not of the journey. Your father was afraid of what might happen if he failed. Of what you might suffer, and what Spira might suffer.”

“He was so confident when he left.”

Auron nods. “In the daylight, he was the most confident man I knew. In the darkness, or the early morning, the fear creeped in. Sometimes, when his fear made him particularly sleepless, he would wake Jecht or I so that we could help keep his demons at bay.” 

“Did it happen every night?” Yuna asks. “Not waking one of you up, but my father not sleeping.”

“Not every night, especially if there had been a sending that day. But most nights, yes.” He bows his head, unwilling to let her see how much knowing that he couldn’t have eased this pain of his Lord’s bothered him. “I think, perhaps, it started when your mother died. That was when I began seeing him during morning prayers and katas more often than not.”

“I remember that. There was woman who watched me in the morning when he would go to share prayers with you. I remember because she had a chocobo in the stable behind her house.” The young woman smiles at the memory. “I hadn’t seen one before she starting watching me, but her chocobo used to let me ride on its back around the yard. I wonder if she used to be a Chocobo Knight.”

“It is possible. Your father knew many interesting people.”

Yuna nods and smiles at him. “Yes, he did. You were my favorite, Sir Auron.”

He returns the smile, not missing the slight inflection she placed on his honorific title to show she was teasing him. “I think your mother was my favorite. Your father chose his wife well, no matter what the priesthood thought.”

“And my mother chose her husband well, no matter what her family thought.” She sighs. “Sometimes, I wish that I had the luxury of a family. But I cannot be so selfish as to bring a child into this world, where Sin still ravages the lands.”

“Your father did not think it selfishness to wish to have a family, even in these times. He believed that all children were signs of hope and a promise for a better future.” Auron is not sure he believes this, but he knows that Yuna might need this belief of her father’s to hold onto and keep her going.

“Then I must honor my father’s belief and bring that better future.” Yuna’s resolved face is firmly in place, and she looks so much like Braska that it almost breaks his heart. “Thank you, Auron.”

“You’re welcome, Yuna.”

As she walks away, he doesn’t feel that he has done her any good. His words have bolstered her courage and fixed her more firmly on the path of destruction.


End file.
